Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) aims to develop the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of the Commonwealth of Virginia by creating learning opportunities for all Virginians.

The purpose of VFH is to bring the humanities fully into Virginia's public life, assisting individuals and communities in their efforts to understand the past, confront important issues in the present, and shape a promising future.

History

Since its founding in 1974, VFH has sponsored more than 40,000 humanities programs serving communities large and small in every region of the Commonwealth.

VFH is one of 55 state humanities councils that are part of the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Humanities councils were created by the United States Congress in the early 1970s and receive an annual congressional appropriation through the National Endowment for the Humanities, which for most councils is supplemented by state and private funding.

Location

VFH is located in Charlottesville Virginia at the University of Virginia.

Activities

Through direct funding, through working partnerships with other organizations, and through statewide and national initiatives, VFH reaches out to all Virginians, using the humanities as tools for addressing issues that directly affect people's lives. The priorities of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities are:
*Books, Reading, and Literacy--the importance of the text as a means of transmitting, exploring, and broadening our understanding of the human experience.
* Media and Culture--the global influence of electronic media on culture, how the media may promote or undermine positive social change, and how media may influence individual perception and creative thinking.
* Violence and Culture--the roots of violence and personal dislocation, and the struggle for individual survival and self-determination within systems of violence.
* Rights and Responsibilities--the still-evolving American traditions of self-government and justice, and the special role Virginia has played in shaping the concept of freedom worldwide.
* Science, Technology, and Social Change--advances in science and technology, the challenges and opportunities they create, and how they are redefining culture and community life.
* Virginia History--the stories of Virginia, its people and institutions, with particular emphasis on the history of minority communities in the state.

A-Z List of Programs

* [http://www.virginiabookarts.org/ Arts of the Book Center] The Virginia Arts of the Book Center exists to promote the values of the humanities through appreciation of the arts of the book, visual and verbal literacy, creativity, and the fostering of traditional and contemporary skills. To this end we operate a working studio and print shop to which community members may gain access and through which they can gain training in the art and crafts of printing, printmaking, and book arts.
* [http://www.aaheritageva.org/ African American Heritage] The African American Heritage Program, formally established in 2000, reflects a commitment that has been central to the VFH for more than three decades. It includes a growing database of more than 400 African American historic sites statewide, an African American Heritage Trails program begun in partnership with the Virginia Tourism Corporation, grants, publications, a traveling exhibit ("Don't Grieve After Me"), and a community partnership initiative.
* [http://www.slaveryimages.org Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record] Developed and maintained by VFH Senior Scholar Jerome S. Handler, a historical anthropologist and Michael L. Tuite Jr., former head of the digital media lab and assistant director, Robertson Media Center at the University of Virginia Library.
* [http://www.backstoryradio.org/ BACKSTORY] With the American History Guys - BACKSTORY is a brand-new call-in radio show that brings historical perspective to the events happening around us every day.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/bookcenter/ Center for the Book] The Center for the Book's vision is that every Virginian will have access to books and reading and to the power that books and reading provide to shape and inform personal and civic life. The Center for the Book promotes books, reading, literacy, and the literary life of Virginia through the programs listed below.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/research/violence/index.html Center on Violence and Community] The Center on Violence and Community is dedicated to research and education about the long term effects of violence and its role in other suffering. It focuses in particular on mass violence, genocide, and intergenerational violence. It supports research by and for the survivors of violence, focusing in particular on their spiritual lives and experiences.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/encyclopedia/ Encyclopedia Virginia] Encyclopedia Virginia (EV) is a multi-year project of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities set to debut in 2007. EV will chronicle the heritage of Virginia through the perspectives of all the ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse peoples that have lived here and have helped make the state what it is today.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/research/fellowships/ Fellowships] The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities is committed to humanities research in the public interest. The VFH Fellowship program offers time, space, and resources to scholars applying the tools of history, philosophy, ethics, cultural studies, and literary criticism to matters of public concern.
* [http://www.vabook.org/ Festival of the Book] The Virginia Festival of the Book is an annual public festival for children and adults featuring authors and book related professionals in over 200 programs. Produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, VABook! is held in Charlottesville, Virginia each March to promote literacy and celebrate reading and books.
* [http://www.virginiafolklife.org/ Folklife Program] The Virginia Folklife Program explores Virginia's expressive, occupational, and other folk traditions through a rich variety of programs, including performances and music recordings, films, exhibits, festivals, publications, and teachers' institutes.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/grants/ Grant Program] The VFH grant program accepts proposals from nonprofit organizations seeking funding to develop public humanities programs for audiences in Virginia. Since 1974, VFH has awarded more than 2,500 grants, bringing scholars and citizens together to promote a greater understanding of the humanities.
* [http://www.vfhradio.org/ Humanities Feature Bureau] Through short, lively public radio news reports on Virginia history, current events, and personalities, the Bureau covers social change, cultural highlights and our common quest for meaning.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/VIHP/ Indian Heritage Program] The Virginia Indian Heritage Program will help redress centuries of historical omission, exclusion, and misrepresentation. It will create opportunities for Virginians of all ages, as well as visitors to the state, to learn about the history and cultures of Virginian Indian people and communities, past and present.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/bookcenter/letters.html Letters About Literature] Letters About Literature is a national reading-writing contest. Readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre-- fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/media/ Media Program] The Media Program is home to VFH Radio, which produces With Good Reason and the Humanities Feature Bureau. Other activities include a funding pool for documentary film, programs that foster understanding of the visual media and global culture, and an editing facility that supports independent filmmakers.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/bookcenter/mrfr.html Motheread/Fatheread] Motheread ® and Fatheread ® is a multi-faceted, humanities-based, family literacy program that uses children's literature as the texts for learning for both adults and children and serves adults with a wide variety of reading abilities and prior educational experience. It is a resource available for use by both established and new literacy and social service agencies.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/whatwedo/regionalcouncils.html Regional Councils] The Regional Councils are volunteer groups of individuals representing the diversities of the areas they serve. They are assisted by VFH staff in their efforts to promote regional awareness of the humanities and to encourage local use of VFH resources. They also work, together with VFH, to identify and serve the special needs of their regions and to create programs that preserve, invigorate, and celebrate their regions' unique historical and cultural identities.
* [http://www.re-imagining-ireland.org/ Re-Imagining Ireland] From May 7-10, 2003, Americans from around the country and Irish from across the sea converged on Charlottesville, Virginia, to take part in Re-Imagining Ireland, a groundbreaking international ‘town meeting’ of Ireland, out of Ireland – a time-out to discuss the past and present, and build bridges to the future.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/roots/ Roots Summer Seminar] Roots is a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for Teachers. The director of the Seminar is Joseph C. Miller (T. Cary Johnson, Jr. Professor of History at the University of Virginia). Participants include 15 teachers from all over the United States with teaching and/or professional responsibilities that they wish to enhance with greater knowledge of Africa, the Middle Passage, and the people who arrived here in North America in slavery.
* South Atlantic Humanities Center - SAHC, a VFH partnership with UVa and Virginia Tech, is dedicated to collaborative public humanities programming that builds understanding of the history, culture, and potential of our region (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, US Virgin Islands, and Virginia) and related or overlapping regions (including Caribbean, Appalachian, Latin American, African, Iberian, Atlantic World).
* [http://www.southernmediafund.org/ Southern Humanities Media Fund] Supports inventive film, television, and radio programs that explore Southern history and identity.
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/bookcenter/recommendations.html "VA Books!" Monthly Column] The "VABooks!" monthly feature column appears in newspapers across the Commonwealth. "VABooks!" suggests a book for Virginians to read in common to encourage dialogue and promote understanding of our heritage and our future. Every month, guest columnists recommend an outstanding work of adult or children's literature.
* VFH PressThe VFH Press publishes books such as The Bill of Rights, the Courts, and the Law (1987, 1991, 1999), Siege (2001), Where the River Flows (2003), and Tough Times Companion (2003, 2005).
* [http://www.vfhradio.org/ VFH Radio] Home to VFH's radio development and production activities, VFH Radio produces a statewide, weekly radio interview program, With Good Reason, and has developed and coordinates a Humanities Feature Bureau.
* [http://www.virginiavignettes.org/ Virginia Vignettes] Virginia Vignettes is a brief weekly column which concisely presents a question from Virginia history along with an interpretative answer by a noted historian or scholar of Virginia.
* [http://www.withgoodreasonradio.org/ With Good Reason] This thought-provoking half-hour show is broadcast weekly by all of Virginia's public radio stations. Through engaging interviews, our programs explore the worlds of the arts, sciences, history, and politics.

ources and notes

* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/ The Virginia Foundation home page]
* [http://www.virginiafoundation.org/grants/priorities.html The Virginia Foundation - grants and priorities]